Poignant moments

We don't have many channels that we regularly check on TV. We have a tendency to stick to Public TV, Turner Classic Movies, Independent Film Channel, ESPN (Javi, not me so much), Bravo, and TLC. That's pretty much all we surf if we're not watching something on the DVR or a Ranger game. Last night, I was checking these and happened on a concert on KERA, our Public TV station. It was Chris Botti, who is a trumpet player that is popular on "Smooth Jazz" stations, I believe. I'm not a fan of smooth jazz-it's one of the few genres I just can't get into. But I stayed with it because the female guest that came out was singing "I've Got You Under My Skin", and he had a great Big Band and Orchestra behind him, and I'm a sucker for those kinds of tunes. We found out afterwards she was Kathryn McPhee, who was a runner up on American Idol one year. The music was good, but the cheesy flirting between she and Botti drove me a little nuts and we decided to watch one of our 15 episodes that we are behind on The Office. I'm not sure why we stopped watching it last year, but we did, and now we're trying to get caught up before the new season starts.

When we finished our episode, the show was still on, with Yo Yo Ma playing a number with Botti. I love Yo Yo Ma, and think he is one of the greatest artists of our time, but the song was ending and Jav had to ruin what was left by asking, "Is that Yo Yo Ma Ma?" which is what he thought his name was for the longest time. And I think he thought he was a rapper instead of a cellist. Anyway, we were about to change the channel when the next special guest to walk out was Steven Tyler. Yep, that one. The androgynous, flamboyant lead singer for Aerosmith? And as of late has been in the news for falling off the stage during a concert? (It's tough being a aging rock star). Well, as he strutted to the front of the stage carrying his signature bandana wrapped microphone, we were intrigued, to say the least, to see what would happen. What happened was one of the most moving and surprising performances I've seen in a while, and one I won't ever forget. He sang the song "Smile", a beautiful song that Charlie Chaplin wrote the music for and used in the movie Modern Times. The lyrics are trying to get you to just smile even though your heart is breaking, so for me it ends up being a really sad song. Tyler put so much feeling into that song I can't even describe it, and his voice sounded so clear. They kept showing the front row of the mostly late middle-aged to elderly audience as he sang, and I thought, "I bet they were dreading this part of the show, but they all look as surprised as I am". When he finished he introduced his Dad, who had been one of those elderly gentlemen in that row, and I actually got teary-eyed. I have a newfound respect for the man.